Why did he shield the murderers and allow the churchs newspaper to blame the crime on the Paiutes for a dozen years after Jacob Hamblin told him Mormons were involved? 2015 - 2023 They were murdered by a small Mormon militia and its Indian allies in a horrible ploy: after a four-day gun battle with their attackers, the pioneers accepted a truce that turned out to be a deadly lie. ''The idea that this was an Indian massacre is just absurd,'' Ms. Denton said, citing a 1999 forensic analysis that found that many of the victims had died from gunshot wounds to the head. February 24, 2023 | 4:46pm. But I am determined by the help of God never to bear false witness against My Neighbour. Later, he complained that those who questioned him wanted lies, not truth. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- the Mormon church -- has steadfastly denied responsibility, first blaming Indians and later a rogue church official for the crime. Some testimony came in private interviews when there was no motive to lie. Young believed that Lee's punishment was just but not a sufficient blood atonement, given the enormity of the crime, to allow Lee entrance into the celestial kingdom. It is at this point in the confrontation that the first officer loses his weapon to Rodriguez. But history is not assumption. [11] After his rest, Haslam picked up the reply from Young and was instructed to return to Cedar City with the letter quickly and not to "spare horseflesh."[11]. His brother Brigham ordained him a patriarch in 1877, shortly before Brighams death. John presided over the first group he led. "[Young] is not only the president here but he is the president of the states and kingdoms of this world no matter if they have not elected him." In a very real sense, Brigham Young was the law. What ever happened to Big Minnie of Tombstone? Bottom line: Yes, Brigham Young was clearly a racist. However, church president Joseph Smith insisted that his brother William Smith be selected in place of Young. Brooks has argued the massacre was an overreaction by Mormon militia forces which resulted in the death of settlers and the tarnishing of the Church's reputation. He felt, he said later, "as tho my head wo [ul]d crack.". When asked by Horace Greeley in 1859, Brigham Young said that he had 15 wives, but some of those sealed to me are old ladies whom I regard rather as mothers than wives. '', Sally Denton, an investigative reporter based in Santa Fe, N.M., whose book ''American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows'' will be published by Knopf next summer, also holds Young responsible for the crime. '', See the article in its original context from. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has steadfastly denied responsibility. Scope and Contents. Strang penned a letter to two leaders, Orson Hyde and John Taylor, requesting to . Its no coincidence, then, that pulp fiction and Hollywood have used these ingredientsmystery, conspiracy and mass murderfor years. 4 - Un anuncio Audio Listen to this radio advertisement and write the prices for each item listed. He recorded standing in an open space, seeing a carriage coming along a road that led up into the air. It is hard to determine how many wives Young actually lived with in the normal sense of husband and wife because of the practice of sealing. Sealings, meaning a ceremony performed by Mormon church authorities that link a man and a woman, could be of two types. When I began writing about the massacre, I realized trying to prove anything about this appalling crime would prove only that I was an idiot. Early in his life, Phineas was a Methodist preacher.[1]. Brigham Young succeeded founder Joseph Smith as the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1847; he led the church until his death in 1877. Virtually all the . The official website of Brigham Young University | Provo, UT. The Indians we expect will do as they please but you should try and preserve good feelings with them. . Then, in 1870, Young excommunicated John D. Lee, a Mormon official and militia leader in southern Utah, because of his participation in the massacre. After this attack, Smiths successor, Brigham Young, led the Mormons West. Brigham Young and His Wives. The massacre stands out not only for its gruesomeness but also for the act of treachery that preceded it. For the desperately poor Mormon settlers in southern Utah, the Fancher party, with its hefty supply of cash, arms and hundreds of valuable horses and cattle, was simply irresistible. There were several times when Brigham Young's life was spared or his health inexplicably restored, according to BYU professor of Mormon History Donald Q. Cannon ("Brigham Young on Life and Death"). In 1857, at the time of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Brigham Young, was serving as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and as Governor of Utah Territory. BYU Mission Statement. When the project was finished, there was still a great deal of money owed to Brigham Young by the Union Pacific and because of their financial difficulties, they were not able to meet the . Union Pacific . '', That conclusion is vigorously disputed by three Mormon church historians, who vow their own history of the massacre, to be published by Oxford University Press in 2004, will exonerate Young. Brigham Young, who quickly took command of the church and its followers, tried to stifle any dissent and banish his rivals.The killing of Phineas Wilcox was part of his consolidation of power . Philip the ll was not stabbed by his son he was stabbed by a man who was very jealous of him. Promised safe passage from the area in exchange for surrendering their weapons, the besieged group complied only to be systematically slaughtered. There is a logic to this. Mr. Bagley and Ms. Denton dismiss these explanations as falsehoods planted to deflect blame from church headquarters. Their corpses, stripped of clothes and jewelry, were left to be picked apart by wolves and buzzards. But we only make the tragedy worse by saying that it was something other than what it wasby trying to fit events into a pre-conceived theory of conspiracy. Stuart Taylor and his son Jacob join other spectators at the 139th annual Golden Spike Celebration in Promontory Summit, Utah, on Saturday, May 10, 2008, as the wood-fired . The rest is history. Here's the account in his own words: Brigham Young wasn't the only latter-day prophet to have such close experiences with death. From the early Nauvoo days, the Young brothers performed quartet-style for the Saints; the Prophet Joseph especially enjoyed hearing them sing. We trust through the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ that we will see him again and he will always be part of our eternal family, Randy Davis said. Children who survived the massacre later described seeing their parents' clothes and jewelry on the bodies of local settlers. * He gave the names of forty odd Mormons who took part in the massacre, and said that Brigham Young was instigator of the whole proceeding. (Although few Paiutes were involved, Ms. Denton said, the massacre broke up the tribe anyway: realizing they would be blamed for the crime, the Indians dispersed.). One of the . ''There are very candid statements on the part of participants to a church official under the agreement of confidentiality,'' Mr. Turley said, adding that the file, along with other sources he and his co-authors were using, would be made public once their book was published. These men later insisted that no orders had come from Salt Lake City, and this testimony included that given by those who in later life left Utah and Mormonism. ROME, Georgia A recent Brigham Young University-Idaho graduate was stabbed to death over the weekend in northwestern Georgia. My nephew Matt is completely innocent. But Matthew's aunt, Angela, believes her nephew is innocent while the real killer remains free. And, as a home missionary he administered to the sick, the needy, the spiritually weak, spreading love, light and encouragement wherever he went, according to The Faithful Young Family.". Though Bridger helped the Mormons find their way to the Salt Lake Valley, Young suspected him of inciting Indian attacks on Mormon settlements and of spying on the Mormons for the U.S. government, which was somewhat threatened by the . "We went west willingly--because we had to.". Jalelah Abu Baker. After guiding an exodus of . Brigham Young was in New England with Orson Pratt when he learned of Joseph's death. Not theories. hold, outlived him, and shared in his estate. New York CNN . Anxiously awaited is a book due to be published in 2004 by three Mormon church historians that will exonerate Young. [6] Young was present in Richmond, Missouri when Cowdery died. As of early 1842, Brigham Young was a contented monogamist. ken james becky sampson ken james becky sampson. Of the 23 who survived him, 17 received a share of his estate while the remaining 6 apparently had non conjugal roles. Why didnt he use his powers as territorial governor to hunt down the men who committed this despicable crime? Twelve apostles were now chosen from those who had marched in Zion's Camp. It was made manifest to me, he recorded and is published in Lorenzo Dow Youngs Preparation for the Gospel on ourlittlecircle.com, that the Savior was in the carriage, and that it was driven by his servant. [25][26] Prior to his execution, Lee claimed that he was a scapegoat for others involved: I have always believed, since that day, that General George A. Smith was then visiting Southern Utah to prepare the people for the work of exterminating Captain Fancher's train of emigrants, and I now believe that he was sent for that purpose by the direct command of Brigham Young. Finally, it is also a matter of historical record that none of the Indian leaders at the Salt Lake council were later at Mountain Meadows, except the Southern Ute leader, Ammon, who tried to prevent the massacre. In this case, he argues, Young saw bloodshed as a righteous act, one that would avenge the Arkansas murder of the apostle, Pratt, and send a sober warning to the United States government about the risks of invading the Mormon state. According to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) historical records, Brigham Young was sealed to as many as 56 women. Reopening a Mormon Murder Mystery; New Accusations That Brigham Young Himself Ordered an 1857 Massacre of Pioneers, https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/12/books/reopening-mormon-murder-mystery-new-accusations-that-brigham-young-himself.html. John and Nabbie Young had 11 children, six daughters and five sons, beginning with Nancy in 1786 and ending with Lorenzo Dow in 1807 beginning in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and ending in Chenango County, New York not far from the village of Palmyra, New York. This railroad operated between 1871 and 1881 and was founded by prominent Mormons such as Joseph A. The document is among the Brigham Young Office Papers at the Church History Library. Originally ran between Salt Lake and York. The seeing of our faithful Elders slaughtered in cold blood, he wrote after his friends death, is at times almost to[o] grevious to be borne, but as the Spirit within me whispers, peace be still. This advice was never changed. Weeks after Young's proclamation, in the high desert of the Utah territory, LDS Mormons murdered more than 100 Arkansas migrants. During the period just before the massacre, known as the Mormon Reformation, Mormon teachings were dramatic and strident. In 1840 Brigham Young traveled to England, where he took charge of missionary efforts, supervising the dramatic growth of Mormonism in that country. Young was too cleverand too religiously devoutto have destroyed the emigrants and thus irreparably harm the reputation of his people. A letter to two leaders, Orson Hyde and John Taylor, requesting to am determined by help! 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